Charge Knife saddle review

Charge's Knife is a development of the quirky British company's Spoon saddle, which was a longtime favourite among Cycling Plus testers. Fortunately the Knife lives up to the reputation of its predecessor rather than the kitchen implement. It boasts the same comfortable shape as the Spoon, but with a reduced profile. There's a small rear indent and a pressure-relieving central channel about 10cm long.

The covering is leatherette, which looks and feels impressively like leather, over a lightweight nylon-fibre base. The saddle rails are made of hollow titanium alloy, which is intended to keep the weight down and add a bit of give to the ride. The Knife tips the scales at a pretty light 221g, which is within a few grams of Fizik's Arione CX Kium at nearly twice the price, and the £79.99 ProLogo Zero Pas. But when it comes to saddles, weight is definitely a secondary consideration to comfort.

The Knife offers a firmer ride than the Spoon – and has less deep padding throughout compared with the Bioaktive Blaze Sportive. This keeps weight down but comfort isn't diminished. The stitching feels quite prominent to the touch, but is around the edge of the saddle rather than on the surface, and none of our testers had an issue with it while wearing either baggy or Lycra shorts. Crucially there's enough padding at the nose for when you're riding on the front of the saddle.

This article was originally published in Cycling Plus magazine.

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